Lego Car Wars?

swordtart · 09-03-2020, 02:41 PM

Lego minifigs are nominally 1:50 scale*.

On that basis, the usual 1" = 15 ft scale means you need a standard car base of 3.6" long (~4x scale). That equates to just under 12 studs x 6 studs.

Most classis minifig vehicles are 4 studs wide (as are the standard wheels mounted on 2x2 blocks). These are very small, but so are compacts in CW (being able generally to fit a single crewman, a plant and a weapon).

Lego Racers range (e,g. 4297) are too small (the driver is only a half figure). Whilst these are 4 studs wide, they have outboard wheels. Bring those wheels within the chassis like

Later vehicles (e.g 7492) were 6 studs wide, and would fill a 12 x 6 base, but these are quite large vehicles.

*The issue is LEGO minifigs are either too wide or too short (they should be about 50% taller to be in proportion. If you base your scale on height they are 1:50 (ish). If you base it on their width you are looking at 1:30 (ish) and closer to the 6" standard base suggested by schoon.

The early road baseboards are built for a 4 stud wheelbase. If you got the Lego Racer board game (set 31314) the cars were 4 stud wheel bases but seated a complete minifig (with his head in the breeze). These would be ideal Killer Karts - though to be fair the LEGO version looks sturdier than a Kart. The cardboard Jigsaw track was only wide enough for two cars side by side on the straights (and on the bends it was very tight), but it was workable. You could easily fit a complete circuit on a fairly small table.

If you ignore the minifigs you can make microscale cars that would just fit on a 4 x 2 base (almost 1x CW scale). I have seen a microscale rig that was on a 2.5 stud wheelbase (using wheels from a minifig skateboard) that was credible.

Given CW vehicles can be somewhat blocks and still look "realistic" even small LEGO models can look entirely adequate. With some of the newer specialist pieces, greebling and SNOT building they can be better than say the Grenadier lead models were.

If you allow yourself to abuse a few bricks to produce the odd custom element, the majority of the model can use standard bricks.

Some people have really embraced the idea
https://www.flickr.com/photos/8107354@N03/23537706446

09-03-2020, 02:41 PM	#14
swordtart Join Date: Jun 2008	Re: Lego Car Wars? Lego minifigs are nominally 1:50 scale. On that basis, the usual 1" = 15 ft scale means you need a standard car base of 3.6" long (~4x scale). That equates to just under 12 studs x 6 studs. Most classis minifig vehicles are 4 studs wide (as are the standard wheels mounted on 2x2 blocks). These are very small, but so are compacts in CW (being able generally to fit a single crewman, a plant and a weapon). Lego Racers range (e,g. 4297) are too small (the driver is only a half figure). Whilst these are 4 studs wide, they have outboard wheels. Bring those wheels within the chassis like Later vehicles (e.g 7492) were 6 studs wide, and would fill a 12 x 6 base, but these are quite large vehicles. The issue is LEGO minifigs are either too wide or too short (they should be about 50% taller to be in proportion. If you base your scale on height they are 1:50 (ish). If you base it on their width you are looking at 1:30 (ish) and closer to the 6" standard base suggested by schoon. The early road baseboards are built for a 4 stud wheelbase. If you got the Lego Racer board game (set 31314) the cars were 4 stud wheel bases but seated a complete minifig (with his head in the breeze). These would be ideal Killer Karts - though to be fair the LEGO version looks sturdier than a Kart. The cardboard Jigsaw track was only wide enough for two cars side by side on the straights (and on the bends it was very tight), but it was workable. You could easily fit a complete circuit on a fairly small table. If you ignore the minifigs you can make microscale cars that would just fit on a 4 x 2 base (almost 1x CW scale). I have seen a microscale rig that was on a 2.5 stud wheelbase (using wheels from a minifig skateboard) that was credible. Given CW vehicles can be somewhat blocks and still look "realistic" even small LEGO models can look entirely adequate. With some of the newer specialist pieces, greebling and SNOT building they can be better than say the Grenadier lead models were. If you allow yourself to abuse a few bricks to produce the odd custom element, the majority of the model can use standard bricks. Some people have really embraced the idea https://www.flickr.com/photos/8107354@N03/23537706446